Peta Hiku

Peta Hiku
Hiku while playing for the Sea Eagles' NSW Cup team in 2013.
Personal information
Born (1992-12-04) 4 December 1992
Gisborne, New Zealand
Height 186 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 100 kg (15 st 10 lb)
Playing information
Position Fullback, Centre, Wing, Five-eighth
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2013–15 Manly Warringah 61 28 3 0 118
2016– Penrith Panthers 9 5 0 0 20
Total 70 33 3 0 138
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2014–15 New Zealand 9 0 0 0 0
As of 18 April 2016
Source: [1]

Peta Hiku (born 4 December 1992) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Penrith Panthers in the National Rugby League. A New Zealand international representative, he primarily plays at fullback, centre and wing, but can also fill in at five-eighth. He previously played for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.

Background

Born in Gisborne, New Zealand, Hiku is of Māori descent. Hiku played his junior football for the Manurewa Marlins and represented the Counties Manukau Stingrays in the National Competition.[2] Hiku played for the New Zealand Warriors' under-20s team in 2012, and had the second most metres gained during the 2012 NYC season behind team mate Ligi Sao.[3] At the end of 2012, Hiku was named the New Zealand Warriors under-20s player of the year. On 13 October 2012, Hiku played for the Junior Kiwis against the Junior Kangaroos, playing off the interchange bench in the 48-16 loss.[4]

Playing career

2013

In 2013, Hiku (and long time Marlins and Warriors team mate Ligi Sao) left the Warriors and joined Sydney NRL club Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, playing mostly at fullback for the Luke Williamson-coached Sea Eagles New South Wales Cup team. In Round 6 of the 2013 NRL season, Hiku made his NRL debut on the wing for the Sea Eagles in place of the injured David Williams against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at Brookvale Oval, scoring a try on debut in Manly's 25-18 win.[5] In his first game of NRL finals football in the 2013 season, in place of an injured Brett Stewart, Hiku was judged as man of the match despite Manly going down 4-0 to the 2013 minor premiers the Sydney Roosters at the Sydney Football Stadium.[6] Hiku ran for a club record 297 metres on the night. Hiku later backed that up by running 231 in the following week's 24-18 semi-final win over Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at the SFS.[7] Stewart made a surprise return from injury in the preliminary final win over South Sydney and Hiku was considered unlucky to miss a place on the bench both against Souths and in Manly's grand final team which lost 26-18 to the Roosters. Hiku finished his debut year in the NRL as a “Mr Fix It” type player, mostly filling in for the injured Brett Stewart, playing in 13 matches and scoring 3 tries for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the 2013 NRL season.

2014

As of Round 7 of the 2014 NRL season, Hiku had played in all seven games for the Sea Eagles following injuries to other players, though when Brett Stewart and winger Jorge Taufua returned to the side coach Geoff Toovey retained Hiku in place of the out of form David Williams. On 2 May 2014, Hiku played his first test for New Zealand when he played at fullback in their 30-18 loss to Australia in the 2014 ANZAC Test at the Sydney Football Stadium.[8][9] On 13 May 2014, Hiku re-signed with Manly to the end of the 2017 season after the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs offered him a contract who were searching for a fullback to replace the departed Ben Barba.[10] Hiku, who has expressed his desire to stay with the Sea Eagles, also reportedly turned down a one million dollar contract to return to the New Zealand Warriors despite the opportunity to be closer to his family.[11] Hiku cemented his place on the wing for the Sea Eagles, even keeping 2013 NRL top tryscorer David Williams in NSW Cup before "The Wolfman" was suspended for the season by the NRL due to a betting scandal. Hiku finished off the season with him playing in all of the Sea Eagles 26 matches and being the club’s highest tryscorer with 17 tries. On 23 September 2014, Hiku was selected in New Zealand's Four Nations train-on squad.[12] On 7 October 2014, Hiku was selected in New Zealand's final 24 man squad for the Four Nations.[13][14] Hiku played superbly at fullback in the Kiwi 30-12 defeat of Australia on 25 October 2014 in the first game of the Four Nations tournament, helping the Kiwis to a 30-12 win over Australia, as well as their first win over Australia since the 2010 Four Nations final.[15] Hiku went on to feature in every tournament game for the Kiwis, playing every minute of every game at fullback. Hiku played in the Kiwis 22-18 Four Nations final win over Australia at Westpac Stadium.[16]

2015

On 31 January and 1 February, Hiku played for the Sea Eagles in the 2015 NRL Auckland Nines.[17] He retained his spot in the New Zealand team for the 2015 ANZAC Test, though he was moved to the centres as the Kiwis continued their Four Nations form with a 26-12 win over Australia at Suncorp Stadium.[18] Hiku finished the 2015 season having played in 22 matches, scoring 8 tries and kicking 3 goals for the Sea Eagles.[19] On 8 September, he was named in the New Zealand Kiwis training squad for their tour of Great Britain.[20] He was a shock selection at five-eighth, playing in all three matches against England in the Kiwis' 2-1 Baskerville Shield series loss.[21] In November, he was told by Manly's new incoming coach Trent Barrett that he was free to look for another club.[22] He was linked with the Penrith Panthers, Parramatta Eels, South Sydney Rabbitohs and St. George Illawarra Dragons,[23] eventually signing a 3-year contract with Penrith on 9 December, starting in 2016, after being released from the final two years of his Sea Eagles contract.[24][25][26][22]

2016

In Round 1 of the 2016 NRL season, Hiku made his club debut for the Panthers against the Canberra Raiders, playing at centre and scoring a try in the Panthers' 22-30 loss at Canberra Stadium.[27]

References

  1. ↑ "Peta Hiku - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 2015-09-26.
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ https://web.archive.org/20150925115505/http://rleague.com/players/Peter-Hiku_3668/Matches/. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved February 4, 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ "Junior Kangaroos Put To Sword". Foxsports.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-26.
  5. ↑ "Manly v Sharks Match Report". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-26.
  6. ↑ "Roosters Repel Sea Eagles in Epic battle". Foxsports.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-26.
  7. ↑ "Live Coverage of Manly Sea Eagles and Cronulla Sharks". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-26.
  8. ↑ "League: Six rookies among Anzac Kiwis - Sport - NZ Herald News". Nzherald.co.nz. Retrieved 2015-09-25.
  9. ↑ Phil Mitchell. "Australia v New Zealand". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-25.
  10. ↑ Adrian Proszenko (2014-04-04). "Manly offers Peta Hiku a new three-year deal, but rival clubs circle". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-25.
  11. ↑ Adrian Proszenko (2014-04-12). "Warriors offer Peta Hiku $1m to trump Manly and Canterbury". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-25.
  12. ↑ "NZ Kiwi Four Nations train-on squad announcement". League Unlimited. 2014-09-23. Retrieved 2015-09-25.
  13. ↑ "Four rookies in Kiwis Four Nations squad". NRL.com. Retrieved 2015-09-25.
  14. ↑ "New Zealand name Four Nations squad | NRL". Zero Tackle. 2014-10-07. Retrieved 2015-09-25.
  15. ↑ Michael Carayannis. "New Zealand hand Australia's young guns a reality check in Four Nations". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-25.
  16. ↑ "New Zealand Champions after Defeating Australia 22-18". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-26.
  17. ↑ "SEA EAGLES UNVEIL 2015 NINES SQUAD". Rugby League Week. 2015-01-23. Retrieved 2015-09-25.
  18. ↑ Chris Barrett. "New Zealand Kiwis claim third straight win over Australian Kangaroos for first time since 1953". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-09-25.
  19. ↑ "Custom Match List". Rugby League Project. 2015-10-21. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  20. ↑ "League: Kiwis to manage Mannering's workload on England tour - Rugby League - NZ Herald News". Nzherald.co.nz. Retrieved 2015-09-25.
  21. ↑ "Kiwis five-eighth Peta Hiku challenged throughout Kiwis tour". Stuff.co.nz. 2015-11-13. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  22. 1 2 Brad Walter. "Sea Eagles back Peta Hiku linked to Rabbitohs in swap for Dylan Walker". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  23. ↑ "Manly's Peta Hiku Has Interest From Three Clubs; Eels Place Formal Offer". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  24. ↑ "Panthers swoop for Hiku | NRL". Zero Tackle. 2015-11-07. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  25. ↑ Adrian Proszenko and Michael Carayannis. "Penrith Panthers sign Peta Hiku from Manly Sea Eagles". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  26. ↑ "Panthers Beat Rivals to Secure Peta Hiku on Three Year Deal". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  27. ↑ "Injuries strike as Raiders edge Panthers". NRL.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.

External links

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